Why it’s So Hard to Get Off Welfare Posted on April 16, 2015 by Paul Solman in PBS NewsHour Since 1996, in order to get welfare in the U.S., you have to work. The Clinton Welfare-to-Work program successfully got millions of families off the social safety net program. But today’s recipients face stagnant low wages and limited resources for job t ..Read More
Starting to Bring Homeless Kids in From the Cold Posted on April 16, 2015 by Brad Hoylman in The Villager Imagine sleeping on the streets this winter, one of the coldest on record. That’s been the bitter reality for hundreds of homeless children across New York State, who were turned away from shelters this year in record numbers because of overcrowding and forc ..Read More
More Pads for Homeless Women on Their Periods Posted on April 15, 2015 by Lisa De Bode in Al Jazeera America Donations of women’s hygiene products at a major New York City homeless shelter for the year so far are already five times higher than for all of 2014, thanks to increased awareness among donors about the enormous obstacles faced by homeless women on their p ..Read More
Criminalizing Homelessness: Ignoring a Basic Human Right Posted on April 13, 2015 by Amy Summer in Philly.com According to a 2014 report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, laws criminalizing homelessness have been spreading rapidly across urban areas of the United States. They criminalize behaviors and conduct that are often necessary for unshel ..Read More
Fighting Homelessness, One Smartphone at a Time Posted on April 14, 2015 by Claire Cain Miller in The New York Times The smartphone giveaway program, though small, typifies the way Bay Area tech companies have started to respond to the glaring homelessness problem right outside their luxurious company campuses: not by donating clothes or serving food, but by using technology ..Read More
Housing Advocate: State Budget a Start, But Not Enough Posted on April 12, 2015 by Jarrett Murphy in City & State It isn’t that housing policy fared badly in the state budget approved earlier this month, said Rachel Fee, the executive director of the New York Housing Conference. It’s that the money the governor and legislators earmarked for housing—while sub ..Read More
New York Given a Blueprint for How to End Homelessness by 2020 Posted on April 8, 2015 by Robbie Couch in Huffington Post A group of activist organizations are optimistic about ending homelessness in New York City in the next five years, but they’ll need policymakers on board in order to make their dream a reality. ..Read More
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito Calls for Supportive Housing to Tackle City’s ‘Alarming’ Homelessness Crisis Posted on April 8, 2015 by Erin Durkin in New York Daily News City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for more supportive housing to tackle the city’s “alarming and truly heartbreaking” homelessness crisis, and slammed “NIMBYism” from New Yorkers who have resisted sheltering the poor in their neighbor ..Read More
Homeless Advocates Demand Urgent Action From De Blasio and Cuomo Posted on April 7, 2015 by Rebecca Fishbein in Gothamist Homeless advocacy group Homes for Every New Yorker released a report today begging the mayor and governor to make a serious effort to cut down on the city’s rising homeless population. According to the report, the homeless shelter population rose to a r ..Read More
